Experimental and Creative Approaches to Collecting and Distributing New Media Art within Regional Arts Organisations

Round  1

Reviewer 1 Report

The key points for review are:

1. Definition of new media art required;

2. Explanation of how and why specific institutions were chosen as case studies;

3. Increase the number of institutions investigated;

4. Thorough editing required for clarity and grammar.

Detailed comments are in the accompanying file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Abstract: Needs re-writing in order to clearly articulate the aims of the Paper.

Point 1: 7 Delete apostrophe in 1960s

Response 1: noted and edited

Point 2: This sentence is not clear: specify “artists” or “art practitioners”; what have they been experimenting?

Response 2: ‘From the 1960s artists have experimented using computers and software as a production tool to create artworks ranging from static, algorithmic drawings on paper to installations with complex, interactive and process oriented behaviours’

Point 3: 12 Does the author mean “preserving its past” or “preserving it [new media art]”? Needs clarification.

Response 3: ‘Recently, concerns have been raised by curators regarding the importance of learning how to collect new media art if there is to be any hope of preserving the artworks as well as their histories’.

Point 4: How can “curatorial activities such as collection, preservation and documentation” be considered “experimental”?

Response 4:’Traditional collections management approaches must evolve to take into account the variable characteristics of new media artworks. As I will discuss in this article, although regarded as a barrier to collecting new media artworks, artists and curators at individual institutions have recently taken steps to tackle curatorial and collections management activities concerning the often unpredictable and unstable behaviours of new media artworks by collaboration and experimentation. This method has proved successful with some mainstream, university and municipal galleries prior to acquiring or commissioning new artworks into their collections’.

Point 5: “acquisitioning” should be “acquiring”

Response 5: Noted and edited

Point 6: “This paper explores that by collaboration…” Perhaps this should read “This paper purports that by collaboration…”?

Response 6: Noted and edited (as below)

Point 7: Do curators really “lament over the obsolescence of what of what it once was”? This is unclear and awkwardly worded: suspect the meaning is “lament its disappearance”.

Response 7: ‘This paper purports  that by collaboration, experimentation and the sharing of knowledge and resources, these concerns may be conquered to preserve and make new media art accessible for future generations to enjoy and not to lament over its disappearance’.

Introduction

Point 8: A footnote is required to support the claim that new media art has been omitted from recent art history books. Without a reference, this reads as a sweeping generalisation. (If exhibition catalogues count as “art history books”, for example, this is a claim all too easily disputed.)

Response 8: This was difficult to substantiate succinctly- have omitted and edited as below:

‘When we consider the length of time new media art has been practiced, why then is it not common place for works to be found in collecting institutions? The purpose of this research is to necessitate change around the commissioning and collecting of new media art within small, regional art galleries where collecting remits are in need of updating to ensure engagement with an increasingly media saturated audience and to initiate integration with the existing collection. As Natalie Kane, curator of Digital Design at the Victoria & Albert Museum argues ‘institutions are by nature ill-equipped to understand the nature of digital work’. (Kane, 2018) Christiane Paul backs up Kane’s argument by stating ‘Because of its characteristics, the digital medium poses a number of challenges to the traditional art world, not least in its presentation, collection and preservation’. (Paul, 2015) She also notes this in the context of the exhibition space being mainly a ‘white cube’ model rather than being a space suited to flexible installation and technology requirements’.

Point 9: Important to define new media art at the outset. This Intro suggests that new media art is something created on computers and distributed via the internet, but a precise definition is required. In doing so, it is worth considering if “new media” is still a meaningful description of digital art. (Is it still “new”?)

Response 9: Art critic and curator, Domenico Quaranta, argues that the ‘new’ in ‘new media art’, traceable back to the 1960s, and once defined as ‘computer art’, is still relevant and meaningful today as it ‘…is the art that uses new media technologies as a medium- period. No further complexity is admitted’. (Quaranta, 2012). In the context of a medium based definition of new media art, curator, Christiane Paul, reasons the label assigned to this broad range of practices and artistic works as ‘The lowest denominator for defining new media art seems to be that it is computational and based on algorithms’. (Paul, 2008) The term has come to encompass artworks that curator, Steve Dietz, identified as having three specific characteristics of connectivity, interactivity and computability and where the artist can intentionally focus on the process rather than the finished product. He also recognises that traditional art museum categorisations for documentation purposes are not always suitable for new media artworks.

Point 10: “V&A” should be “Victoria & Albert”, at least for the first mention here.

Response 10: Noted and edited

Point 11: What are the myths that collection new media art is “problematic, costly and unworthy of collecting”? Citation needed.

Response 11: As discussed in Response 9.

Point 12: Explanation required of why NGCA has been selected as a case study. What is the rationale for focussing on this particular regional gallery?

Response 12: The University of Sunderland secured an Arts and Humanities Research Council and Northern Productivity Investment Fund studentship award in 2017 for a researcher to investigate new, cost effective models for collecting and distributing new media art with the partner organisation being Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art. NGCA is a small regional gallery in the North East of the U.K. with a focus on commissioning and exhibiting while collecting works from exhibiting artists. NGCA will stand to benefit from this research with the aim of developing distribution networks, keeping costs to a minimum, and a clear collecting remit written within the collections development policy. By researching current curatorial models and practices and understanding the reasons why the collection of new media art is not as widespread as with that of traditional artforms the aim of the research is to assimilate data on the currently disparate curatorial activities to produce a framework for use in a regional gallery setting. Experiments, in this context, will be carried out on existing artworks within the collection on how they marry with current and new documentation approaches. By working with artists from the concept stage to production will provide a greater understanding of how they intend their artworks to be exhibited and preserved for the future.

Curatorial Key Issues

Point 13: What are the “unnecessary social pressures common to artist-led activity”? It is not clear here how a “non-exhibition” can benefit an artist or their audience.
Response 13: Have omitted ‘unnecessary social pressures’ statement and explained that it makes the artworks more accessible affording a larger audience reach.

Point 14: This is not a sentence- split into two sentences

Response 14: ‘This is followed by collaborative projects between institutions and organisations such as furtherfield and The Museum of London project or the Harris experiment which will be examined later in this article’.

Point 15: What evidence is there to show that new media art “has not made significant inclusion into the collections of museums, galleries or private collections”? (Also, this sentence needs re-writing.)

Response 15:’ As discussed, the collecting of new media art raises a range of concerns and the responsibility of maintaining it may be one of the main challenges. One of the anxieties of curators is how to preserve not only the artwork which can be process oriented, time-based and networked, but the ever evolving hardware that is integral to the work’

The subject of concerns of curators on integrating new media art into collections is addressed previously (see Response 8)

Point 16: As elsewhere, this sentence is not clear – it doesn't make sense. There are also assumptions that lack explanation. For example, how are wall labels “disruptive”? Vocabulary is also an issue here and elsewhere. E.g. what is “technician-ship”? The discussion of wall labels in this section is superfluous to the Paper. Suggest either deleting it; otherwise it needs rationalising in the context of the Paper’s stated aims. For example, it might be worth mentioning the reasons for the curators of Documenta 12 not using descriptive wall labels.

Response 16: As suggested, this section has been deleted. I agree, it does not add anything to discussion in the paper.

Collecting

Point 17: As with NGCA, the use of the Harris Museum & Art Gallery in Preston as a case study also requires rationalisation.

Response 17: The Harris was selected as a starting point for this research as at the time of the experiment, they held no new media artworks within their collection and as an Arts Council England accredited institution, their Collections Development Policy must undergo evaluation and agreement by the board of directors prior to any changes in the collecting remit.

Point 18: As the UK’s leading public arts organisation fostering new media art, why has FACT not been selected as a case study? (Use full name for FACT, not the acronym.)

Response 18: FACT are not a collecting gallery, they are an exhibiting gallery only and have not been researched further in the context of collecting. Have edited the acronym to the full title.

Point 19: What is the relevance of Claes Oldenburg here (given that he is not a new media artist)? Footnote required also to specify dates of exhibitions.

Response 19: Agreed- have now mentioned Kelly Richardson as below and added footnotes with dates of her exhibition at NGCA as well as that of Cory Arcangel.

‘This strategy could certainly apply to the Collections Development Policy of NGCA as the gallery has given first UK shows to artists such as Kelly Richardson [1] and Cory Arcangel [2] several years prior to other galleries acknowledging recognition of the artist’.

Conclusion

Point 20: The conclusion of the article is a quote from the Guggenheim. More suited to a conclusion would be a summing up of the author’s/authors/ findings.

Response 20: Agreed- have omitted the Guggenheim quote as below:

‘As tomorrow’s art history is what we are collecting today, the collections become the tools for research, exhibitions, publications and education. With audiences becoming ever-more dependent and aligned to all things networked and digital, which of course makes for easily accessible distribution channels, it is imperative for galleries and institutions to be unafraid of the integration of new media art into their programming and collections to engage with both physical and digital audiences. Collaboration between institutions, transference, distribution of knowledge and an open mind to experimentation are conducive to the integration into collections and henceforth the preservation of new media art. As there are many diverse organisations with their own approaches to collecting, preservation, documentation and distribution it is inevitable that there will be no ‘one size fits all’ model to inform each of the activities associated with promoting the longevity of new media artworks, although the three basic questions asked when considering a change in the institutional collecting remit should remain the same:

·        why do we collect?

·        what should we collect?

·        how do we acquire what we want?

Although some collecting institutions appear apprehensive when considering acquiring new media art, due to the testing of more experimental and innovative curatorial practices, anxieties can be overcome. The balance must be maintained between ensuring the preservation of the artworks and not impeding on breadth of the artist’s creativity. It is true that knowledge, funding, equipment and physical space are integral and essential factors to achieving successful collecting but the evidence outlined in this paper advocates that it can be achieved’.

Reviewer 2 Report

A very clearly presented and well written article on an important issue. The suggested changes are minor, but important.

Lines 40-43: a statement is made that galleries and institutions needs to be unafraid to integrate new media into the collections and programmes; this is also the conclusion of the article. It would make more sense to explain what the research hypothesis is and on what basis - following on from the clearly stated imperative, and to leave this asseryion for the conclusion only, to avoid the improession tat the putcome has been decided in advance of the research.

Line 44 and 45 - citations are needed to back up the statements that the medium is generally accepted as posing challenges.

Lines 57-8 -be useful to explian why use of new media for artworks AND their documentation is a cause for concern.

First mention of experimentation - be useful to define the use of this term for purposes of this article.

There is no statement about methodology - we are told this is preliminary research, and become aware on reading the article that it is a programme of research which will benefit a partner ogranisation - but how was this preliminary research carried out - literature review, review of collecting practices, conversations with the partner organisation? We need to know this in order to be assured of scientific soundness.

Author Response

Point 1: a statement is made that galleries and institutions needs to be unafraid to integrate new media into the collections and programmes; this is also the conclusion of the article. It would make more sense to explain what the research hypothesis is and on what basis - following on from the clearly stated imperative, and to leave this assertion for the conclusion only, to avoid the impression that the outcome has been decided in advance of the research.

Response 1: Have removed the statement to the conclusion section and edited this section to: ‘When we consider the length of time new media art has been practiced, why then is it not common place for works to be found in collecting institutions? The purpose of this research is to necessitate change around the commissioning and collecting of new media art within small, regional art galleries where collecting remits are in need of updating to ensure engagement with an increasingly media saturated audience and to initiate integration with the existing collection. As Natalie Kane, curator of Digital Design at the Victoria & Albert Museum argues ‘institutions are by nature ill-equipped to understand the nature of digital work’. (Kane, 2018) Christiane Paul backs up Kane’s argument by stating ‘Because of its characteristics, the digital medium poses a number of challenges to the traditional art world, not least in its presentation, collection and preservation’. (Paul, 2015) She also notes this in the context of the exhibition space being mainly a ‘white cube’ model rather than being a space suited to flexible installation and technology requirements’.

Point 2: citations are needed to back up the statements that the medium is generally accepted as posing challenges.

Response 2: addressed above in response 2

Point 3: be useful to explain why use of new media for artworks AND their documentation is a cause for concern.

Response 3: These notable differences can be a cause of concern for the purposes of documentation to preserve the artworks’ longevity. This could be due to the ephemeral nature of some new media artworks, the documentation being integral to the artwork and the artwork being confused with the interpretation tool.

Point 4: First mention of experimentation - be useful to define the use of this term for purposes of this article.

Response 4: Experiments, in this context, will be carried out on existing artworks within the collection on how they marry with current and new documentation approaches. By working with artists from the concept stage to production will provide a greater understanding of how they intend their artworks to be exhibited and preserved for the future

Point 5: There is no statement about methodology - we are told this is preliminary research, and become aware on reading the article that it is a programme of research which will benefit a partner organisation - but how was this preliminary research carried out - literature review, review of collecting practices, conversations with the partner organisation? We need to know this in order to be assured of scientific soundness.

Response 5: The University of Sunderland secured an Arts and Humanities Research Council and Northern Productivity Investment Fund studentship award in 2017 for a researcher to investigate new, cost effective models for collecting and distributing new media art with the partner organisation being Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art. NGCA is a small regional gallery in the North East of the U.K. with a focus on commissioning and exhibiting while collecting works from exhibiting artists. NGCA will stand to benefit from this research with the aim of developing distribution networks, keeping costs to a minimum, and a clear collecting remit written within the collections development policy. By researching current curatorial models and practices and understanding the reasons why the collection of new media art is not as widespread as with that of traditional art forms the aim of the research is to assimilate data on the currently disparate curatorial activities to produce a framework for use in a regional gallery setting. Experiments, in this context, will be carried out on existing artworks within the collection on how they marry with current and new documentation approaches. By working with artists from the concept stage to production will provide a greater understanding of how they intend their artworks to be exhibited and preserved for the future.

Round  2

Reviewer 1 Report

The points raised have been thoroughly address.

Suggest a full read through for spelling, grammar and typos before submitting.